Styling
The Electrified has been mildly facelifted and stretched, to the tune of 130mm, since the
last time we drove it. Now, we're not saying the resulting 5.1-metre-plus four-door is out-and-out-gorgeous - as there's something about the huge shield 'grille' and beaky positioning of the front licence plate which irks us - but in terms of elegant presence, the zero-emission G80 is a stunner. Particular praise goes to those exquisite, polished-face 19-inch alloys, which are vaguely reminiscent of old Mercedes AMG Monoblock rims, and the way that Genesis' corporate 'double-bar' light styling really works on the big frame of the executive saloon. Thus, the Electrified G80 2026MY is off to a strong start, even if its charging port is, weirdly, hidden in the nose of the vehicle...
Interior
...and then you get into the passenger compartment, and things just become even more gratifying. Having the sort of beautiful-yet-sensible ergonomic layout of any contemporary Hyundai or Kia, only enhanced with the sumptuous material finishing of the upmarket Genesis brand, the Electrified G80's cabin is a sensational smash hit. The centrepiece is the 27-inch Seamless OLED infotainment and cluster array, and this just works fabulously, with rapid responses and lovely graphics. There's also a good array of physical switchgear, a separate panel for climate controls, and rotary dials for both the gearbox and the infotainment display (if you don't fancy using the latter as a touchscreen, for some reason). On top of that is a fantastic 17-speaker Bang & Olufsen Surround Sound system with Dolby Atmos and Active Road Noise Cancelling, as well as motorised rear doors that can be opened by switches on the transmission tunnel if needed (cough, if you're a chauffeur, cough), so it's yet another comprehensive thumbs-up for the G80 EV from us on this score.
Practicality
The effusive glorification of the Genesis Electrified G80 continues here, although this is one area where we have to be professional and admit that, by junking its former
2.5-litre turbocharged petrol powertrain, there's been a sacrifice of some boot space. You're now down to 354 litres in this giant EV, and it's a weird shape too as there's a large slope-like protuberance running up to the back seats, due to the technical challenges inherent in cramming a 94.5kWh battery pack into hidden parts of the vehicle where it was never supposed to be.
Still, there's enough room in the boot to take a few bags and suitcases, while inside the legroom in the back is verging on the preposterous. With the wheelbase up to a gargantuan 3,140mm, you should find that even basketball players would be happy lounging around in the second row of the zero-emission G80. True, the fact it was never meant to be an EV in the first place is betrayed by the hump in the centre of the rear floorwell, which reduces the Genesis to a realistic four-seater rather than a full five-chair sedan, but even so there's simply no complaining about the voluminous nature of the Electrified G80's interior.
Performance
As we touched upon in the previous section of the review, by all rights the Genesis Electrified G80 should feel like a right lash-up on the move. This is because it wasn't built on a dedicated EV platform and has, in layman's terms, been 'converted' to an electric car from its previous ICE format. Ordinarily, these sorts of things render a vehicle as notably compromised. A bit shonky.
Curiously, it turns out that the G80 feels like it was
born to be an EV. As in, it's way better as an electric car than it ever was with a raucous blown 2.5-litre petrol four-pot under its bonnet. With a couple of 136kW e-motors installed, one on each axle, the system outputs of this limo are a commendable, albeit not exactly sector-redefining, 370hp allied to 700Nm of torque. Yet it further transpires that this is
precisely the amount of performance you need for a vehicle like this; no more, no less.
The roll-on pace of the Electrified G80 is substantial (50-75mph: done and dusted in a mere 3.3 seconds) and effortless, the judgement of both the throttle and the four-stage regenerative braking (again, exemplary technology lifted from contemporary Hyundai EVs) is about as spot-on as spot-on is ever going to get, and the one time we clicked the Genesis into Sport mode and mashed its accelerator to the thick carpet for a swift red-lights getaway, the all-wheel-drive acceleration was so neck-snappingly impressive that we have to suspect the Korean firm is significantly sandbagging the car's abilities on paper; a brisk 5.1-second 0-62mph time seems, if anything, on the conservative side when compared to the actuality.
And then the car continues to worm its way into our affections by being magnificent on its electric reserves. No matter how you drive it, and despite its dual-motor nature plus alarming 2,410kg kerb weight, you'll always get in excess of 3 miles/kWh efficiency. We cruised down the motorway in it during cool conditions (about 11 degrees C), and there was no need to
slipstream a public service vehicle for 50-odd miles to get 3.3 miles/kWh from the G80, no moment where its
trip computer started draining away range with no warning, despite doing 65mph, no sitting in the car and feeling like we'd got nerve damage because the climate control was off but the heated seats/wheel were on, so you've got a red-hot small-of-your-spine and backs of your thighs, yet all the front of you is freezing and the windows are steaming up inside. No; we just did a proper motorway pace. Had the climate on all the time. Used it, essentially, like it was still a big ICE-powered limousine. And it did the job spectacularly in the process.
It's even brilliant at the EV equivalent of the pumps, too, because the G80's super 800-volt architecture makes charging times rapid. It'll regularly run along at something like 150kW DC, which means you're never hooked up to the mains for longer than you want to be. It can even charge pretty quickly beyond 80 per cent indicated, too, even if that's not 'proper' EV etiquette to be hogging a public charging unit.
Ride & Handling
Let's get the handling out of the way first. It's not going to set your world on fire. This is a 2.4-tonne, 5,135mm-long, luxury saloon designed to be driven in, rather than driven, so some kind of Korean 'BMW M' car in disguise it is surely not. But with surprisingly gorgeous steering (the weighting, the feel, the naturality of its responses), ample body and wheel control, oodles of traction from the dual-motor AWD set-up, and clear-enough messages coming from the chassis through the base of the plush seats, the Electrified G80 can be hustled quite enjoyably. It's not thrilling, you understand; but it's a long, long way from being dynamically terrible, either.
However, where the Genesis absolutely smashes your preconceptions into smithereens and leaves you gobsmacked is with its comfort levels. The last time we ever drove anything which rode better than this and which had anything like superior rolling refinement (and, even then, we're not sure on either count that it definitely
was better than the Genesis),
it was the wrong side of 450 grand. And that was seven years ago, as well.
This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest thing we've ever driven for long-distance supremacy and the ultimate in driver relaxation. There's not a moment where you can hear anything of wind or road noise permeating the G80's cosy cabin, never a sensation where the 19-inch alloys are making their unsprung mass felt as they cover off lumps in the road. A clever camera-based active (preemptive) ride system on the Electrified G80 is little short of witchcraft, because the Genesis simply floats down the highway like some kind of giant automotive cloud. It's stunning. It's delightful. It's the car we want to spend the rest of our lives travelling around in, as we get ever grouchier of disposition in our dotage and the byways of Britain descend into ever more appalling condition through continued neglect from the authorities. We could probably go back to the standard of road finishing of the Romans, and the G80 would just deal with whatever was facing it with the same impeccable dignity and grace.
It is genuinely the best-riding, quietest vehicle we think we've ever been in. Irrespective of price. As we said in the Performance section, it's like it was always destined to be an EV - even though it wasn't. Remarkable.
Value
We can't ignore the fact that a Genesis Electrified G80 starts from £75,615, for what is essentially a gussied-up Hyundai four-door that has been retrospectively converted to volty-based power by its own manufacturer. Nor can we gloss over the with-options price of our car, knocking - as it is - on the door of £86,000 (and why are Nappa leather, at £2,620, silver paint, at £850, rear-wheel steering, at £1,120, and vehicle-to-load, at £300, among the cost-extras at this sort of level of expenditure, Genesis?). We're also not overlooking depreciation, which is savage for both luxury saloons from any manufacturer, never mind a leftfield outlier such as Genesis, and also EVs, given uncertainty among the populace about battery efficacy on older used machines.
But when we've just, favourably, compared the G80's road manners to a £450,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom, are you honestly saying that £85,740 is outrageously over-the-top? Experientially, this car feels worth several times that market valuation. And do you know what? Depreciation, do your worst. Because if we can pick one of these things up for about £30,000 in three or four years' time, maybe, then know with utmost certainty that we'd be all over a second-hand Electrified G80
like a rash. Strong mental imagery for us to conclude with there, we're sure you'll agree.
Verdict
We've always liked Genesises (Geneses? Genesii? What
is the correct pluralisation of this marque, anyway?!) when we've tried them before, and we've certainly been deeply impressed by its EVs, including the
pebble-shaped GV60.
But nothing this fledgling prestige manufacturer has put out yet has stupefied us to anything like the same astonishing degree as the Electrified G80. Sure, it's expensive. Sure, it's going to depreciate steeply. Sure, the boot is daft. Sure, you might want more like 500 miles of one-shot range from a top-end limousine like this. Yet, when you're wafting along in unsurpassed comfort and whispering tranquillity in the sybaritic environs of the Genesis' sublimely appointed cabin, none of those considerations will matter. One jot. Rare, sophisticated, an undiscovered gem flying beneath the radar of wider public perception (there's a mixed metaphor for you), and at its absolute pinnacle now it has become an EV, we'll take our Electrified G80 in dark blue with a cream leather interior, please, but keep those mega 19s on it; perfection. It really is the greatest car that hardly anyone will ever know about.
